Julia Barrett's World

Just spreading the news…

Daughters of Persephone, Book Three Reborn and Book Four, Red Demon, have been released today with Resplendence Publishing.

http://www.resplendencepublishing.com/m8_view_item.html?m8:item=239-200-102-460-3

I am super proud of this series - of course it’s a contradiction, futuristic science fiction erotic romance. That’s a mouthful! Here are a couple blurbs. Oh, by the way, I got word from Siren that my menage, One Four All, will be released on September 23.

The Daughters of Persephone saga continues…

Book Three: Reborn

A thousand years have passed since the Empress Aja Bokinan and her consort Kyr Aram settled on Calen. As the legend foretold, a great evil has arisen. Black Frocks scour the planets, searching out women, children and even men with a trace of the Royal Blood, sacrificing them to their dark god.

Book Four: Red Demon

There is a reason Tem is called the Red Demon. She does what she wants when she wants. No one controls her. Time and space do not hinder her. Worshipped on ancient Earth as a goddess among many people in many different lands, nobody opposes her, except her creations, Issa Bokinan and Kane Tirol.

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From Teagan at Bookwenches:

Sensuality Level: 3
Rating: 5.0

Reviewed by: Teagan S. Boyd

“A girl beaten within an inch of her life is found in the backroom of Kmart, and no one knows who she is. With the girl barely clinging to life, a paramedic holds her hand, and she refuses to let go. Aquamarine eyes drag him into her pain and suffering, and he can’t resist being there for her.

This is how Devlin and Jake meet. Two people who form a bond one fateful day. When the terrible secret of Devlin’s life the last two years comes out, Jake wants nothing more than to see the monster that did this to her dea, and to take care of her forever. But Devlin is young, and Jake realizes he must walk away and let her heal. When they meet four years later, has their love withstood time? The man of her nightmares has never been caught . . . will Devlin ever be safe?”

********

“Wow. This book blew me away. I expected romance, and I received so much more. This is a story with true heart and grit, and the spectacular romance just puts icing on the cake. I was drawn in immediately within the first few words and found that I was not able to put it down for a minute. The characters will be impossible to forget, and I wouldn’t even want to.

I truly enjoyed that this story had so much “meat” to it. I got a bit of some of my favorite things: romance, suspense, and superbly written characters. The romance is sweet as well as spicy. The suspense kept me wondering what would happen, and my emotions were in full drive throughout the book due to the evilness of the villain. The characters are simply wonderful.

Devlin has a strength we all wish we had. She is a victim, yet we also see that she embraces her strength in order to overcome being a victim. I enjoyed her both as a teenager as well as a woman. Ms. Barrett brought her to life.

Jake is any woman’s dream man. He is hardworking, sexy, and his compassion is almost as welcoming as his passion. I felt like cheering him on at times for his chivalry, yet he wasn’t a softy pushover. The combination worked extremely well.

I must also mention the secondary characters. While they were very important, they didn’t overshadow the main characters, they added superior depth to an already outstanding story.

Ms. Barrett has an uncanny ability to get my emotions in high gear, and her descriptions and stories come to life. As I have said before, she has a fan in me, and I will be waiting impatiently for more of her wonderful stories.”

I’ll be over at Bookwenches later this month as a guest blogger.

From dear Stephanie at Fangs wands and fairy dust, who went out of her comfort zone to read a non-paranormal, sci fi, shifter…

“OOOOH, I have got to tell you about this great new book, Anytime Darlin’. Yes, it is by my friend Julia and she sent me an e-copy as a gift with no expectation of anything since she knows the scope of my blog. But it was so good, so H.O.T. that I told her I am plugging this on the blog on Friday.

There are two main characters, Jake, a cowboy/emt with parents who own a super profitable cattle-ranch. The girl he happens to get a call on is Devlin, found half-naked, starved, beaten and raped. Something in her eyes bonds them together more deeply than super-glue. Jake is 24, but Devlin is 17, a victim of her uncle’s psychopathic rage. Jake knows he is too old for her and spends a few years away. She has no family, some close family friends help her but when she turns 18 she takes off to heal herself. It is a few years before they can get back together.

When I began reading this I thought the writing was outstanding. Super natural; nothing rang untrue or out of character. The story is really quite unusual, sad and sweet with loss and triumph. The heat level is up there past Scotch Bonnet, to Habañero. You know the hottest of the hot peppers. The sex in this made my toes curl.

But really what made me like this the most was the writing, the story and the development of the characters. There is a story with the sex; it is not just sex. Even the supporting characters are well developed. The villainy is complex and interwoven.

I know, I know, this might be hot but it’s not paranormal. But the writing is super and it is natural, and it is about love and what is more magical than that?”

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This is so exciting!

Anytime Darlin’, my cowboy romance, just became available for pre-sale! Oh! I am in love with this book! It’s my firstborn!

http://www.bookstrand.com/anytime-darlin

What a nice present just before I leave for my canoe trip. Thank you Siren!

Oh, also, Daughters of Persephone is on the What’s Hot List all All Romance Ebooks. I have absolutely no idea what this means.

http://www.allromanceebooks.com/index.html#whatsHot

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Since my house is a mess and my puppy is a handful, you get eye candy.

This is the new cover for my cowboy erotic romance, Anytime Darlin’. Here’s the teaser:

Devlin Barre lies near death, her family destroyed, her hopes for the future, dashed. Jake McKenna saves her life. Worried she’s becoming dependent on him, Devlin runs off without a word. Years later, Jake and Devlin meet again. Has their deep connection survived? What of the murderer who still hunts her?

This book is very close to my heart. It’s the first romance I wrote. When it was first published, it sat buried on a virtual-world shelf somewhere in Never Never Land. I can’t tell you how happy and grateful I am for the opportunity Siren has given me to re-write and re-release this tender love story.

The release date? Coming soon - mid to late August.

Tomorrow - Science Fiction Erotic Romance….is it a contradiction in terms or just too weird to survive?

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Songs and their movies pop into my head, like -

Everybody’s Talkin’ at Me…

and - Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head…

and - Mrs. Robinson…

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Last American Cowboy, Monday Nights, Animal Planet.

http://animal.discovery.com/tv/last-american-cowboy/

You gotta watch this show! Seriously good TV. From Animal Planet:

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And she’s Mia Watts!

So Mia’s here and we’re getting along great, both typing away on our laptops while honey-bun watches baseball - because you know, baseball been bery bery good to me! She’s just as crazy funny as she says she is, and you get another stream of consciousness post!

No, actually, for a laugh head over to Mia’s site - she should have her new post up soon! Her brain is very scary, even off drugs! http://miawatts.blogspot.com/

Anyway, here’s my Scottish post:

This is Nigel. Nigel is my Scottish friend. Actually, he’s one of a triad, Nigel, Karen and Janice. Janice and I are partners in crime - we get into big trouble when we ride horses together. Karen follows our lead, leaving Nigel behind to yell at us.

Way up north in Montana, Nigel and Karen have a room next to ours. All last week after riding, Nigel sat in a chair right outside my door, downing his beer, calling…

“Arrrrrrre ye wrrrritin’ yer smut, now, lassie?”

“No, Nigel, I’m editing my smut.”

“Ah, lassie, I hearrrrrd ye prrrrracticin’ last night. Werrrrrre ye worrrrrkin’ on a scene, then?”

“Nigel!!!”

“Weel, I couldna help but hearrrrr ye carrrrryin’ on!”

“Nigel!!!”

“Dunna think to be puttin’ me in one o’ yer smutty novels then.”

“You’re going into my next novel in full kilt, Nigel!”

“Ye wouldna darrrrrre!”

“And you’re going commando beneath it and I’m going to write you into a scene where the wind is blowing, a gale force wind!”

“A trrrrue Scot is no’ afearrrrred o’ the wind!”

“When I blow your kilt over your head in front of the Queen you will be!”

“The Queen knows a rrrrreal Scot wearrrrrs nothin’ but what God gave him beneath his kilt. Go on with ye, wrrrrite yer smut!”

Ah Nigel…I can’t wait until next year when we can pick up our conversation where we left off! And you are going into one of my books!

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Here’s Josie, all that’s missing is me!

Hi all, I’m back from ten days of heaven…I mean Montana - big sky, rugged mountains, cute cowboys, good food, harsh weather, heavenly horses! I spent yesterday afternoon stuck in that dang Seattle airport again - but that All Romance E-book award-winning author, Mia Watts, and I spent two hours texting each other - until the battery on my phone died.

We stayed a couple days at my daughter’s boyfriend’s cattle ranch. Eat more grass-fed beef! This coming from a vegetarian who has been desensitizing herself to meat in recent weeks after ages of avoiding it, because I’ve witnessed firsthand the kind way this family cares for their cattle and their responsible stewardship of the land. I figure if they come to Napa, they drink our wines…if they host me, I’ll taste their beef. These are real cowboys who cry if they lose a calf or a horse or a working dog. Seriously.

Then we moved on to the cattle ranch that was our initial introduction into this wild corner of Montana a number of years ago, Sweetgrass Ranch - heaven on a hoof! For three days, I rode my standby, Trinket, a blue roan. She’s great, transitions smoothly from the trot to the lope to the gallop, she’s sure-footed on the steep, rocky trails, but she doesn’t like cattle and after three days, she began coughing. I got to ride Garrett - a brilliant little horse - stole him from Janice, my Scottish friend! As she says, he explodes, but he’s so kind, he takes you with him! She’s right. Have you ever watched a cat rev his hind-quarters up and then spring forward as he’s stalking something? That’s Garrett. You can practically feel him revving his little hindquarters up just before he explodes across a meadow. Riding him is like blasting off on a rocket! He’s smooth as silk and so dang cute! But, Janet, damn her…wanted him back, so my daughter, head wrangler that she is, switched me to Josie, saying, you’ll love her, she’s very forward.

OMG! There are no words to describe the feel of Josie beneath me! Sigh and double sigh. Triple sigh. She’s tall, powerful and fast. She did everything I asked of her. While her trot is a bit high, when she lopes and gallops, you might as well be floating on a living cloud. If someone had been able to take a picture of me, you would have seen a big, shit-eating grin on my face - but of course that would have been impossible as I was past everyone in a flash, gone in a cloud of dust!

Josie and Garrett, Janice and I, became partners in crime, getting into trouble, racing across meadows of wildflowers, leaving the rest of the group far behind.

Me to my daughter: “I haven’t had this much fun on a horse since I was a kid!”

My daughter to me: “Yeah, I noticed! You’re acting like a little kid!”

Me to my daughter: “Aw, c’mon, can’t I lope some more??? Pleeeeeeease?”

My daughter (rolling eyes) to me: “I’m regretting my decision to give you Josie.”

Nah, at the end of the day, my daughter whispered in my ear…”I knew you would love her. She’s perfect for you. She’s just like the horse you lost.”

Perfect ending to a perfect week.

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